One Year of Lockdown

March 2020-March 2021 poem

One year of lockdown
Stay home, save lives
Don’t kill your grandma
Shelter inside

Wearing our masks
We try to recognise
The faces we know
By only their eyes

“Keep a safe distance
From our staff and each other”
Do not go to your friend’s house
Do NOT hug your mother

Outdoors is safest
The only place to meet
Be careful — step aside
As you’re passing in the street

Life that once was
Exists no more
Now our welcomed visitors
Stay outside the front door

2.7 million people died this year
Hundreds of millions more suffered
THIS is what happens to humans racing
To destroy nature’s buffer

Though we long to return
To life’s variety
Venturing closer
Fuels social anxiety

Vaccines bring hope for some,
Many others in disbelief —
Against all these variants
Will vaccines bring relief?

We’re on a healing journey
The path ahead — not straight
Taking the time you need for yourself
Will not make you late

Open up so slowly
Let body take the lead
The lessons of love lie within you
Take all the time you need